Spiritual Practice

A good spiritual practice can take many forms. I thought this article by Carolyn Wilson-Elliot provided a good example of one person's approach.

Deconstructing My Spiritual Practice

The question I'm always asking myself is "How do I bring my Spirituality into other areas of my life?"

The answer, I discovered, lay in my spiritual practice. Chances are if you’re reading this, you have a spiritual practice, too. It might be meditation or prayer or yoga or painting or walking. But, within that spiritual practice you’ll find clues to bring your spirituality into your workplace, family and/or community in a safe, empowering way.

You’ll find these clues by deconstructing or breaking down your spiritual practice. For example, every spiritual practice includes some kind of ritual movement, a repetitive movement that allows you to connect in with Source. This repetitive movement brings your body into a sense of well-being and deep relaxation that allows you to tap into the higher brain processes necessary for connecting to Source.

The movement might be whole-body movement like that found in yoga or T’ai Chi, or it might be a subtle movement like deep breathing. Whatever your ritual movement is, you automatically move into your body and into the present moment.

When I began looking at the amount of movement during my day, I discovered just how sedentary my life was. As a writer, I sit in front of a computer all day long. The longer I sit, the shallower my breathing becomes and the harder I have to work to even think, let alone stay in the present moment. Interruptions late in the day annoyed me and I reacted to them in not-so-loving ways.

At first, I thought I needed to add more exercise to my day, but that really didn’t help me stay present and relaxed throughout the whole day. So, I looked at my spiritual practice more closely. The amount of movement I needed to stay present and connected to Source didn’t require 30-minutes of aerobic activity. To move into that place of connectedness, all I needed to do was change my breathing, relax my body and still my mind.

My spiritual practice includes a lot of ‘play’ energy. If I find it difficult to meditate because my thoughts are whirling around, I get out my soap bubbles and start blowing. This diverts my attention away from my chaotic thoughts because the bubbles are so much fun to watch. It also changes my breathing as I exhale slowly to get the biggest bubbles I can. Just a few minutes of blowing bubbles relaxes my body and I can move easily into a meditative state.

Now, blowing soap bubbles all day long was too much even for me. However, I did start incorporating one-minute movement breaks into my day. Every hour, I stopped whatever I was working on to move my whole body for 60 seconds. To determine what kind of movement I needed, I just asked my body, ‘what do I need right now?’ And then I waited for the answer. It sometimes comes as a thought, sometimes a craving in my body. But I always get an answer.

I tend to get engrossed in my writing projects so I used a kitchen timer to remind myself to check in with my body every hour. The results were amazing! At the end of the day, I felt more energized, more creative and more connected to Source. I slept better at night and throughout the day I stayed in a more loving place, quietly welcoming interruptions as just another opportunity for movement that kept me connected to my Spiritual Nature.

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About the Author: Tired of Your Inner Critic (Negative Thoughts) Always Getting the Last Word? Discover how to get it on Your side....Master Spiritual Life Coach, Carolyn Wilson-Elliott, shares 10 powerful and effective self-coaching secrets used by successful people to get the results they want.

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